There’s never been any doubt in my mind that craft connects us in fundamental and powerful ways, but how do relationships that begin through a shared passion for making last over time and distance?, Carol Sinclair

Following the opening of the SHIFT Canada exhibition at Cape Breton Centre for Craft and Design in Nova Scotia, Carol Sinclair and fellow Scotland-based makers participating in SHIFT Canada took the opportunity to reflect on the impact of their five international collaborations with Canadian makers that began in 2019. Believing SHIFT‘s themes of collaboration, identity and sustainability are just as relevant today, the collaborators share their experiences.

Sarah Paramor

This week, as “Shoes for Mary” goes on display in Cape Breton, I find myself in Rome, far from my basketry materials. There is some making, though: I am knitting a particular red hat – appropriately, with yarn bought in Norway (en route to a cod-fishing trip in the Arctic Circle, but that’s another story!).

Making “Shoes for Mary” in collaboration with weaver Jennifer Green – our unexpected “Lockdown Residency” – offered a lifeline thread of creative inspiration during the pandemic. Now, knitting while on holiday in Rome, I feel a tiny part of a worldwide collaboration — making a traditional Norwegian hat that, thanks to yarn store Needle & Skein, has been adopted as a symbol of protest in Minnesota and beyond…

Susan O’Byrne

Working with jewellery designer Mengnan Qu during SHIFT introduced me to a different sense of scale and intimacy in making. Coming from ceramics, I was used to thinking in terms of volume and presence; jewellery operates on a much more intimate level, where small decisions carry a lot of weight. That exchange has stayed with me more than I realised at the time. While my independent work hasn’t directly referenced our collaboration yet, it has greatly influenced how I approach surface, finish and attention, particularly in smaller sculptural forms where touch and closeness matter. Six years on, SHIFT feels less like a discrete project and more like a highly formative experience that continues to shape how I think about making with sensitivity, collaboration and creating across disciplines.

Cally Booker

When Andrea Tsang-Jackson and I first met to share our thoughts on identity and collaboration, I never imagined we would end up working with stop motion animation, but it turned into a fascinating journey into an unfamiliar domain. As a result of our work, I have become much more interested in the way digital technologies can be used in conjunction with traditional craft, and in 2021 I applied for and received some VACMA funding to enable me to explore the intersection of digital design and weave more deeply. This aspect of my practice is continuing to evolve.

Louise Barrington

Since SHIFT and the Meet Make Collaborate Exhibition in Scotland, I have continued exploring textile techniques alongside 16mm film, experimenting with how materials and process can shape image-making. Themes discussed with Kit Holden-Ada have evolved through a heightened awareness of place. I hand-process film using an eco-developer made from seaweed and plants, observing how natural dyes interact with the emulsion. I press organic materials from my surroundings, flowers, seaweeds, and other flora to create abstract prints. Through these experiments, I continue to develop my filmmaking practice, creating work that is rooted in landscape, people, and place, where process, material, and environment intersect.

Carol Sinclair

Initially I was involved in the project to facilitate the other collaborative pairs, but when I met Rebecca Hannon in Halifax we simply had too much to talk about and explore together not to begin our own collaboration. We chose to work with colour as a signifier of place and environment, and this led me to revive a porcelain inlay technique I had first developed at art school and just never had the opportunity to explore. This way of working, with environmentally responsible use of materials in mind, has had a fundamental impact on my practice. Working collaboratively gave me the time, space and permission to take creative risks and experiment. And working internationally is such a powerful reminder that we are all interconnected, interdependent and part of the same global community. For me craft plays a vital role in making connections between individuals and across communities, with important messages to share politically and environmentally.

SHIFT Canada is a mixed media exhibition developed through an international artist residency and exchange initiative that began in 2019. This cross-continental collaboration brought together five Nova Scotian and five Scottish makers to explore creativity, cultural identity, sustainability and innovation in contemporary craft. The exhibition is on display in the Loft at Cape Breton Centre for Craft & Design from 2 February – 28 March 2026.